Nabucodonosor

''Nabucco'' (, short for Nabucodonosor ; en, "Nebuchadnezzar") is an Italian-language opera in four acts composed in 1841 by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Temistocle Solera. The libretto is based on the biblical books of 2 Kings, Jeremiah, Lamentations and Daniel and the 1836 play by Auguste Anicet-Bourgeois and Francis Cornu. However, Antonio Cortese's ballet adaptation of the play (with its necessary simplifications), given at La Scala in 1836, was a more important source for Solera than the play itself. Under its original name of ''Nabucodonosor'', the opera was first performed at La Scala in Milan on 9 March 1842.

''Nabucco'' is the opera that is considered to have permanently established Verdi's reputation as a composer. He commented that "this is the opera with which my artistic career really begins. And though I had many difficulties to fight against, it is certain that ''Nabucco'' was born under a lucky star."

The opera follows the plight of the Jews as they are assaulted, conquered and subsequently exiled from their homeland by the Babylonian king Nabucco (Nebuchadnezzar II). The historical events are used as background for a romantic and political plot. The best-known number from the opera is the "Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves" (" Va, pensiero, sull'ali dorate" / "Fly, thought, on golden wings"), a chorus that is regularly given an encore in many opera houses when performed today.

Composition history

The success of Verdi's first opera, '' Oberto'', led Bartolomeo Merelli, La Scala's impresario, to offer Verdi a contract for three more works. After the failure of his second opera ''Un giorno di regno'' (completed in 1840 towards the end of a brutal two-year period during which both of his infant children and then his 26-year-old wife died), Verdi vowed never to compose again.

In "An Autobiographical Sketch", written in 1879, Verdi tells the story of how he came to be twice persuaded by Merelli to change his mind and to write the opera.Verdi, "An Autobiographical Sketch" 1879 in . See also George Martin 198
"Autobiographic Sketch and ''Nabucco''"
pp. 81–85 The duration of 38 years since the event may have led to a somewhat romanticized view; or, as Verdi scholar Julian Budden writes: "he was concerned to weave a protective legend about himself inceit was all part of his fierce independence of spirit." However, in ' ("Where there's a will ...") – written ten years closer to the event – the zoologist Michele Lessona provides a different account of the events, as allegedly recounted by Verdi himself.

After a chance meeting with Merelli close to La Scala, the impresario gave him a copy of Temistocle Solera's libretto which had been rejected by the composer Otto Nicolai. Verdi describes how he took it home, and threw "it on the table with an almost violent gesture. ... In falling, it had opened of itself; without my realising it, my eyes clung to the open page and to one special line: 'Va, pensiero, sull'ali dorate'."

While it has been noted that "Verdi read it enthusiastically" (and certainly he states that, while he attempted to sleep, he was kept awake and read and re-read the libretto three times), others have stated that he read the libretto very reluctantly or, as recounted by Lessona, that he "threw the libretto in a corner without looking at it anymore, and for the next five months he carried on with his reading of bad novels ... hentowards the end of May he found himself with that blessed play in his hands: he read the last scene over again, the one with the death of Abigaille (which was later cut), seated himself almost mechanically at the piano ... and set the scene to music."

Nevertheless, Verdi still refused to compose the music, taking the manuscript back to the impresario the next day. But Merelli would not accept the refusal; he immediately stuffed the papers back into Verdi's pocket and according to the composer, "not only threw me out of his office, but slammed the door in my face and locked himself in". Verdi claims that gradually he worked on the music: "This verse today, tomorrow that, here a note, there a whole phrase, and little by little the opera was written" so that by the autumn of 1841 it was complete. At the very least, both Verdi's and Lessona's versions end with a complete score.

Performance history

19th century

The opening performances, limited to only eight because the season was coming to an end, were "a colossal success." But, when the new season opened on 13 August 1842, around 60 performances had been added by the end of that year. Numerous Italian and foreign theatres put on this opera in the years immediately following, including La Fenice in Venice in December 1842. In 1843 Donizetti conducted it in Vienna, and other stagings took place that year in Lisbon and Cagliari. But the definitive name of ''Nabucco'' for the opera (and its protagonist) was first used at a performance at the San Giacomo Theatre of Corfu in September 1844."''Nabucodonosor'': History"
on giuseppeverdi.it, in English. Retrieved 1 April 2013 Nonetheless, a more plausible alternative for the establishment of this abbreviated form claims that it was the result of a revival of the opera in Teatro del Giglio of Lucca.

The opera was first given in London at Her Majesty's Theatre on 3 March 1846 under the name of ''Nino'', since the depiction of biblical characters on stage "was not considered proper". In the US it appeared at the Astor Opera House in New York on 4 April 1848.

20th century and beyond

''Nabucco'' is frequently heard around the world today. It has been on the Metropolitan Opera's roster since it was first presented there during the 1960/61 season. When the Metropolitan opened its season in September 2001, eleven days after the destruction of the World Trade Center, the chorus began by singing "Va, pensiero" in honor of the victims of the attack.

''Nabucco'' is also regularly performed at the Arena di Verona. Among the performances preserved on DVD are those at the Arena di Verona (1981 and 2007); La Scala (1987), Opera Australia (1996), Vienna State Opera (2001), Metropolitan Opera (2002), Genoa's Teatro Carlo Felice (2004), Teatro Municipale di Piacenza (2004), and Austria's St. Margarethen Opera Festival (2007).

Many other companies have also performed it, including San Francisco Opera in 1982, Sarasota Opera in 1995 and 2019, London's Royal Opera House in 1996, Lyric Opera of Chicago in 1997 and 2016, the New National Theatre Tokyo in 1998, Teatro Colón in 2000, Baltimore Opera in 2006, and the Teatro Regio di Parma in 2008 as part of their on-going "Festival Verdi". ''Nabucco'' was presented by the Michigan Opera Theatre and the San Diego Opera

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